Improvement in compound blowers



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ALEXANDER K. RIDER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR 'IO HIMSELF, C,`-

H. DE LAMATER, AND GEORGE H. REYNOLDS, OFISAME PLACE.

Lette/rs Patent No. 101,510, dated April 5, 1870.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all ywhom, 'it 'may concern Be it known that 1', ALEXANDER K. Einen, ofthe city and county of New York, and State of NewYork, have invented a certain new and improved construction of Blower; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof. l

My invention relates to that class of fan-blowers known as compound, in which the air from one fan is received into another, and the slight pressureindnced by the action of the first fan is increased successively by the selies of fans through which the air passes in succession.

My blower, like most or all others, can be used as a pump, if desired, and it may be so understood throughout the entire specification that, by substituting water or oil or other fluid for air, with or without modifying the proportions and increasing the power, the machine, although everywhere called a blower, may be equally well used as a centrifugal pump.

1 will first describe what I consider the best means of carrying out my invention.

Figure l is Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

A is a fixed casing, open atboth ends.

Al Al are internal fianges, exteudingaround on the interior, which are perpendicular orl plane on one face, and hollow, as represented, on ythe other face.

A2 is a nozzle, adapted for ready'eounectiou to a pipe or duct to carry away the air, and lead it to the furnace or other point where it is desired tohlo'w. This nozzle is placed tangential to the case A.

A shaft, B, is mounted in fixed bearings, An A4, in the axial line or center of the case A.

It is provided with a small pulley, B', adapted to Vreceive a rapid rotary motion from a belt (not represented) leading from a steam-engine or other suitable power.

Instead of simply winged hubs, l nmnnt comparatively close wheels on the shaft B.

I designate each wheel collectively by the letter M, and will designate the parts thereof by MI M2, dac.

Ml is the hub, keyed or otherwise fixedl firmly on the shaft B.

M2 is a continuous plate, fixed on the hub, and extending outward therefrom in all direct-ions, as represented.

Ms M3 are wings; and j M4 is another continuous plate, nearly parallel to the plate Mz, but nearer thereto at the periphery than near the center. The plate M* does not connect directly to the hub. It is cast or otherwise fixed firmly to the wings M, leaving a liberal opening for air to flow through the space between the inner edge of the plate M4 and the hub M.

The entire wheel )I may be made of cast-iron, and turned and polished on its faces, so as to reduce-the friction against the air. It is lunch easier to thus make smooth the exterior of asymmetrical wheel than to correspomlingly smooththe interior of any casing. v

The wings M are analogous to the blades of ordinary fans. They may stand exactlyradial, or they may be slanted or curved' backward, or in any other direction, according to the judgment or whim of the constructor. In either case they are tightly fixed to thc plates or sides M2 M2 and should, by preference, present smooth surfaces, and extend continuously from near the shaft B to the extreme periphery of the plates M2 Mi.

All the interior surfaces of' my blowing-wheels M should, by. preference, be' smooth, but this is not very material.

The motion of the air. across these surfaces is slow. The particles of air move outward in lines directly radial relatively to the wheel.

VIt is a matter of indiiferenceif the interior of the wheels'are grooved or otherwise roughened, even to av great extent, provided the ronghnesses are in radial lines, corresponding to the slow motion of the'air.

l The blowing-wheels M are fitted close to the inner edges of the corresponding flanges A1, which are turned and polished to adapt them to be mounted in close proximity without actual contact.

My wheels as constructed have great stiffness, and I nd it practicable to run them vvery close to the flanges without inducing actual cont-act.

I provide two or other desired number of fixed wings, Ai', extending inward from the interior of the casing A to about the inner edge .of the plates M4 of the several wheels M. These wings are finished at their edges, and mounted, so as to approach very near the polished faces of' the wheels M.

The action ot' my improved blower will now be readily understood. Ou settingV the shaft B and its connections in rapid rotation, the outer blowing-wheel receives air at the center, -gives it a rapid rotationhy its wings M3, and ejeets it against the inclined or hollowed f'ace of an internal flange, A1, which, deflect-ing it against the wing A5, causes its rotation to be instantly arrested, and allows it to fiow quietly inward to the center oi the next wheel M, where it is again l v seized by the wings M3 of the next blowing-wheel.

lhis operation may-be repeated as many times ns may be preferred, andar each operation the pressure ofthe air is increased without subjecting the air to the friction which it experiences in being whirled with corresponding rapidity in the ordinary fixed and comparatively rough casings.

After the air has been discharged from the periphery of either blowing-wheel, it is immaterial what amount of roughness and frictionai resistance it encounters on the hollow or deiiect-ing side ofthe flange A1, onthe interior ot' the casing A. At that lstage of its progress it becomes necessary to arrest its rapid rotary motion, and it is not material to the consumption of power whether this is all arrested suddenly by contaot'with the wings A, or whether' a portion is arrested previously by the friction against the parts Al and A. But any friction which it would encounter in traversing outward along the wing or fan M, would be an unnecessary resistanceto the action, which it is one important object of my invention to reduce.

While it is true that the friction of the outer surface of each wheel against the air, as it quietly returns between the wheels, is a resisting friction; and tends, so far as it goes, to balance the gain due to the removal of the friction while under the action of the fan, this resistance can be made much less by reason of the facilities which my invention affords for smoothing the frictional surfaces.

The stiff construction of my wheels also allows a much closer fit of' the joints, and consequently a rewww duction ot' the leakage backward, without involving risk of frictional contact.

I proposel to balancethe end pressure on my shaft by mounting two complete sets of wheels M M, &c., in positions reverse to cach other on each side of the discharging-nozzle A2, as represented in rIbis tends to still further increase the ei'iiciency of my cornpound blower, by receiving air at each end and discharging it under as high a pressure Aas may be desired through the same central nozzle A? By increasing the length ofthe casing A, the ninn- `ber of wheels M, and the number of the flanges A and wings A5, I can increase the* pressure of the air indefinitely.

Iclaim the compound blower herein described, having smooth-surfaced blowing-wheels M, and fixed wings A", arranged either in a double or single series, in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses: A. K. RIDER.

` A. HOERMANN.

H. E. PRICE. 

